UFO Festival crowds in Exeter exceed expectations. Here's what to expect on Day 2 Sunday.
EXETER — Aliens and the humans who love them made a triumphant return to the town this weekend for the 2022 UFO Festival.
Alien Boy, one of many aliens roaming the town, claimed to be a descendent of the passengers from the original alleged UFO sighting by some Exeter police officers and a civilian on Sept. 3, 1965, which later became known as the “Incident at Exeter.”
The UFO Festival is based on the incident and is a fundraiser for the Exeter Area Kiwanis Club.
"This is where my parents crashed their ship," said Alien Boy. "I was a little boy and was not on that journey."
He was promptly "arrested" by Matt (dress as a character from "Men In Black."
It's all in good fun. The event was such success on Saturday that Bob Cox, Kiwanis Club president, said organizers were running out of the merchandise they had for sale. He said stores like Trends, which always participates, was also running out.
"The (Exeter) Police Department made a limited number of special police patches to sell this year," said Cox. "They sold out in the first 20 minutes. The turnout is much greater than we anticipated. We had to stop for a couple of years because of COVID, and I guess everyone wanted to come out today."
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Susan MacLeod, a clerk at Trends. said at 9 a.m. the store already had a line out the door.
"We ordered as many inflatable aliens as we could," she said. "They are all gone."
Cox said the crowds, which left them scrambling to restock for Sunday's second day of the event, are good news for the Kiwanis. Money raised by the club, after expenses, are used to help children.
"We give $4,000 in scholarships each year, divided between Exeter High School and the Seacoast School of Technology," he said. "We give to groups like End 68 Hours of Hunger and The Exeter Community Children's Fund."
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One very popular area at the festival offers children's crafts. Kids can build their own spacecraft, have their hands painted, paint rocks and show off their own alien creativity.
"The kids manning the craft section are volunteers from the Builder's Club at the Cooperative Middle School," said Erin Cox, Bob's daughter. She said their entire family is involved in the festival in one capacity or another.
Even the kids craft section saw supply issues.
"By 12:30 we had run out of rocks for the kids to paint," said Alyse Yansling, 13. "We sent the kids out to scavenge more rocks we could use for painting."
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"We are having a meeting after today," said Erin Cox. "We need to figure out how to stock for Sunday. I suspect I will be running more errands tonight, but we will figure it out."
Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022 UFO Festival schedule
A speaker series ran all day Saturday and will continue tomorrow with the following schedule:
9 a.m. – Mike Stevens, “Granite Skies”
10:30 a.m. – Peter Robbins, “The Origins of UFO Ridicule: How America’s Greatest Newspaper Helped Perpetuate America’s Greatest Deception”
Noon – Paul and Ben Eno’s Behind the Paranormal radio show featuring all participants
1 p.m. – Jennifer Stein, “Description of UFO 101 a brief historical review”
2:30 p.m. – Bob Terrio, “Ancient Aliens in Mexico”
3:40 p.m. – Mack Maloney, “Latest Developments in the U.S. Military’s Study of UFOs”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter UFO Festival popularity takes off in return after COVID hiatus
